Reviews by BeerAdvocate:

Tall portion of head, and the dark chestnut color is clear enough for the light to shine through. Big aroma of toffee, baked apples, ripe plums, raisins, brown bread and alcoholic esters. Malty body is not too thick, but certainly is very smooth. Massive toasted malt foundation, so lush, with a broad stroke on the palate. Hints of toffee and ripe fruit within—modest hopping drops some herbal flavor in the back ... broth as well? Warming esters in the sweetish finish. Bold flavors and big malt profile may take away from the drinkability, but it still ends up being a good sipper.

More User Reviews:

Pours a hazy deep amber color with a light tan head that leaves solid lacing.

Smells of robust caramel malts with very slight hints of deeper toasted malts. Also present are solid amounts of medicinal hops - similar to those found in beers a bit past their prime – and hints of deeper herbal and citrus hops.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Slightly dry caramel malts up front are joined by herbal and citrus hops. Midway through the citrus hops fade, and more bitter leafy hops come into play, carrying through to a solidly bitter ending. Mouthfeel is good, with smooth carbonation.

Overall this was a good beer, however I have to imagine it would be better fresh (assuming of course that it is indeed past its prime). Yet another example of how bottle dating is helpful.

I've had a few issues with this brewery in the past. Namely, over-carbonation problems in quite a few of my previous bombers. Elector surprised me with seemingly spot on carbonation and a great appearance. Alright, New Albanian, we're off to a good start.

A rich copper, almost barleywine color, sits fantastically with dark ruby highlights. Head adorns my pint glass perfectly with 1/3 inch of off-white foam that just doesn't leave. Perfect viscosity from all those oily hops and great looking legs.

Cascade hops come through nicely in the nose. Plenty of citrus on top of a light crystal malt aroma. This is definitely a Red that's been dry-hopped. Citrus echoes in the flavor as well, but a bit of pine comes through as well, especially playing its part in bittering and aftertaste. The malt bill gains more complexity with a bit of warmth. In fact, the malt and hop bill almost begin to become somewhat reminiscent of a DFH 90 Minute IPA... Almost. Alcohol is masked nicely and the Caramel malts provide a nice, mild sweetness to the brew. A bit over-carbonated (here's that again) in the mouthfeel but at least it doesn't detract from the overall impression of the beer as other offerings have.

All in all, a decent representation of an Imperial Red/Amber. The semi-aggressive hop bill sits well in the bouquet as well as in the flavor. This is, by far, the best offering from New Albanian that I've had to date. I'm hoping for more of this as time goes on. I'd definitely be willing to buy another bottle of this in the future. Good job, NA.

A- Pours a deep amber color. One finger white head shows good retention. Sheet style lacing on the sides of the glass.

S- Big malty aroma to this one. Caramel, toffee, and something else I can't quite put my finger on. Bitter piney hops in the ending of the aroma. Simple but works very well.

T- Huge amber style taste to begin with. Lots of deep caramel taste with notes of toffee. There seems to be a almost roasted malt (very light) in the middle of the beer. Nice hop bitter bite toward the ending of the beer that helps to counterbalance the maltly sweetness.

M- Medium mouthfeel. Carbonation is good for the style. Deep caramel malts with a hint of hop balance on the palate. Aftertaste is mostly caramel malts with a hint of alcohol and faded bitter hops. This beer is balanced toward the malty side which it should be for the style. No off flavors were present. Medium alcohol drying on the palate.

D- This beer was a nice drinking beer. I could see having a couple pints of this easy. The flavors were bold but not over the top fo this Imperial Red Ale. ABV doesn't seem this high since the alcohol is not present at all in the beer.

Heavy hop character in the nose, especially the grapefruit. However this is an undertone of more floral scents.

The hops in this are as subtle as a brick passing through a plate glass window. Right after the initial assault of hops, however, a nice malt counter balance comes into play. Finishes pleasantly bitter without being overbearing.

The is medium carbonation here, but it doesn't get in the way and actually adds to character of the beer.

22 ounce bottle. Served in a snifter, the beer pours a slightly hazy reddish/amber color with a huge light tan head. The head lasts forever, and there's a good amount of lacing. I bought a bottle of this for one of my friends, and he warned me that it was a gusher, so I made sure to open the bottle as carefully as I could. It didn't gush out but even after a slow pour the glass still ended up being 80% head and 20% beer. So once the beer finally settled enough to drink, the aroma is bready and caramel malt, cloves, yeast, and some earthy hops. The taste is the same as the aroma, but with the addition of some herbs. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it's a bit creamy and coating, but has way too carbonation. I think it's a solid beer, but the way too high carbonation hurts it. I'll have to try this again in the future, maybe this bottle was a bit bad. I don't think it was supposed to be quite as carbonated as it was.

Poured from 22oz bomber into pint glass. No freshness date to be found.

A: Pours a nice rich amber/copper with some ruby highlights and an absolutely massive, mountainous beige head that just simply will not give up. Took me at least 5 minutes just to be able to fill my glass 3/4 of the way, and i was being perfectly gentle (yet undecided if that's a good or bad thing.) Crazy lacing.

S: Umm...I think either this has been mislabeled or New Albanian needs to re-categorize this brew. My first honest reaction was wondering whether this was a bad batch, but judging from the most recent reviews, it doesn't seem to be. Smells decidedly Belgian pale ale-esque - in no way do I get "Imperial Red" from this. Sort of yeasty and herbal, with a sour vomit-like tang. Maybe a little grapefruit rind and spoiled vegetables. Not that great for a straight-up Belgian beer, and certainly not within bounds for an Imperial Red.

T: Same as the nose - tangy Belgian funk with some caramel malt sweetness cutting through in a nearly failed attempt at balance. The flavor is more pleasing than the aroma, and I can *maybe* catch a tiny glimpse of a perfectly decent Red Ale that's been bastardized.

M: Quite full, creamy, with champagne-like carbonation. This and the appearance are the only things going for this one, sadly.

O: I think it's safe to say this convoluted, politically-charged experiment didn't really work, if it is indeed an experiment. The label is confusing and honestly, quite misleading. When you spend $9 for an Imperial Red you expect an Imperial Red, not a Belgian somethingorother. I'm not an unreasonable guy, but I'm sorry to say that this just ain't worth it.

I would add some sort of "imperial" or "double" designation to the red ale categorization for this beer, as it is bigger than the average bear. Nicely hopped, with both citric and herbal hops notes. If I was to compare it to antoher beer, I'd say a bigger Troeggs Nugget Nectar. Malt sweetness was on the lower side, and the hopping was very bright and engaging.

Poured from a bottle into a standard pint glass. I got this bottle from a trade at Dark Lord Day.

Appearance: A lot of carbonation here. I don't know anything about how fresh this is, but it tastes good so I'll keep going. There is a whole fist of tan head. The beer is a slightly cloudy reddish amber. The head left some lacing on the glass once it decided to go down. Nice color, too much carbonation in this bottle.

Smell: Sweet and malty, hints of bread and perhaps some honey. Not much hops in the smell.

Taste: This is where the beer shines, which is what you hope for. Bitter citrus peel hops are there, but still let the malt do it's work. There is a nice malt sweetness with some fruit notes. The finish is quite bitter.

Mouthfeel: Medium body with a good amount of carbonation and a slightly slick finish.

Overall: The taste of this one really wowed me. When I poured the beer I was worried, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'd have another to see how it compared to this bottle.

Thanks to hopdog for sharing this growler...
Appears a semi-transparent amber with a small white collar and scattered spots of lacing that are left around the glass. Tiny streams of CO2 slowly rise to the top.
Smell is of honeysuckle, yeast, nuttiness, fruit, tea leaves, and freshly baked cake.
Taste is of the mentioned aroma with the yeast being the standout in this one. In fact, there is some hearty yeast sediment left at the bottom of the growler and even some left in suspension.
Mouthfeel is medium/full bodied, fruity up front with medium bitterness hanging on till the finish.

Served this 22 oz. brown bottle in a large Sam Adams perfect pint glass. NABC has just started bottling their beers and this is from the first batch. (Picked up at The Keg at the release party). A huge yellowy tan head rested on a deep leather, amber/brown body. Clear and rich. The head left ample lacing and a cap remained.

The taste was bold. Leafy, crunch hops and sweet malts. Bread crusts and oranges. A bit of cherry too. Bold but well balanced.

The mouthfeel was solidly medium. Plenty of carbonation, not too fizzy.

The label states that the malts used are: "Special Pale and Simpsons Medium Crystal". The hops are: "Nugget and Cascade finished through hop-back with whole cone Cascades". The yeast is: "House English". O.G. 18.5 and the I.B.U. is 62. My mouth waters just reading that!

I have had this beer on tap many times but reviewing it without distractions at home I realize how well constructed this beer really is. (maybe I'm a bit of a homer too!)

Unfiltered brown with some redder/ruby hues. Modest retention and thick lace. Nose has berries, a big red ale malt (heavily caramelized), toffee, light citrusk and spicy hops (although perhaps a bit faded). Taste has and earthy, caramel backbone. Moderate sweetness, toffee, citrus and some general hop bitterness. Malt is quite forward, and quite a nice profile displayed at that. Medium full feel, moderate bitterness. A decent red ale, with nice malt character but the hop flavours aren't as forward as I would've desired - still not a bad beer by any stretch.